Ash hoist and lowering attachment



July 26, 1932. BOTNICK 1,868,878

ASH HOIST AND LOWERING ATTACHMENT Filed A ril 16, 1951 45.; 28 i 7 27 f 6 2o 21 16 17 2;; I6

2s 3 Macm'ce M.B0fnick Patented July 26, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT @FFECSE.

MAURICE M. BOTNICK, F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 JOSEPH W. W'UNSCH AND SAMUEL WUNSGI-I, (JO-PARTNERS DOING BUSINESS AS SILENT HOIST WINCH & CRANE 00., OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK ASH HOIS'I" AND LOWERING ATTACHMENT Application filed April 16,

My invention relates to apparatus such as is used for handling ash cans and the like.

It is customary to employ hoisting appara tus driven either by hand or electrically for lifting cans full of ashes and refuse from basements to the side walk and to lower the empty can by the same mechanism. The lowering operation, however, is very slow and needlessly wears the power device.

I accordingly employ an auxiliary device which can be readily applied to the hoist and by means of which the empty cans may be quickly lowered independently of the operation of the hoist.

Fig. 1 is a side view of apparatus embodying one form of my invention showing two cans attached to the lowering device.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the lowering device with a single can attached.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the lowering attachment.

Fig. a is a vertical sectional View on the plane of the line 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an end and sectional view of the attachment showing the brake mechanism on a scale somewhat larger than Fig. 2.

In the preferred form of the invention, the hoist has a winding drum 5 and lifting hook 6 or other form of lifting device for ash cans and the like. The winding drum and cable are protected by a housing 7 which supports the drum and this in turn is supported by a suitable upright or standard 8. The winding drum may be operated by any suitable means, as for instance, by means of an electrical motor 9 geared to it, for instance, through a worm 10. v

The typical installation of the apparatus contemplates raising ash cans from the floor 11 of a basement tothe side walk 12 and of course returning the empty cans to the basement. Typical ash or refuse cans 14: and 15 are shown. Ordinarily these cans are raised and lowered by the cable: hoist device 6 and as the motor should be as small as possible to do the work it is of course geared to lift the heavy cans rather slowly. In some cases the motor is made reversible so as to lower the empty cans and this necessarily results in a great deal of lost time. In other cases more 1931. Serial No. 530,577.

or less complicated mechanism is employed for releasing the drum to permit the lowering of the cans. I have found a very simple method of expediting the handling of the cans by providing a separately organized lowering device attached to or supported by the hoist standard so that the empty cans may be quickly lowered from the side walk to the basement independently of the power hoisting mechanism. In fact empty cans may be lowered quickly while the hoisting device is being'slowly returned to the basement for picking up loaded cans.

This loweringattachment includes a reel 16 which is mounted ona stud or shaft 17 which is secured to the housing 7. The outer end of this shaft is supported by a bracket 18 which has a shoulder secured to the housing by a number of lag screws or bolts 19. Rods 20 and 21 which may also be in the form of lag screws or bolts, connect the lower arms of the bracket to the housing 7 on opposite sides of the reel 16.

Two lowering ropes or cables 22 and 23 are oppositely wound on opposite ends or sections of the reel 16 so that when one is being wound up the other is being unwound. In the situation shown in Fig. 1, the cable 22 is wound up on the reel and may be connected to the can 15 which can be automatically lowered to the basement as soon as the can 14 is disconnected from the cable 23, the weight of the can 15 being sufficient to overcome the friction of the parts and automatically lower the can 15 to the basement. It is preferred, however, to employ some form of friction brake to control the descent of the empty can. In the form shown, I have provided a flange 25 midway between the ends of the reel which actually dividesthe reel into two sections and thus serves to keep the two cables 22 and 23 separate from each other, the cable 22 being secured to the outer section and the'cable 23 having one end secured to the inner section of the reel. The brake shoe 26 is hinged to the rod 21 and has a handle 27 which projects outwardly from theopposite side. This handle 27 is guided bis by a rod 28 which extends through it and is secured to the rod 20. Spring 29 arranged between the head of the rod 28 and the arm 27, tends to press the brake shoe downwardly agalnst the flange 25 of the reel so as to apply friction automatically to the reel to retard its movement.

This friction can be increased by pressing downwardly on the handle 27 of the brake shoe, or decreased by lifting the handle. The adjustment of the spring, however, may be sufficient to prevent the reel from spinning.

The lowering device in the form shown constitutes a convenient attachment which can be manufactured and sold as a unit for application to existing hoists. It should be understood, however, that the invention may be incorporated in various forms.

The cables of the lowering device are so arranged that when the empty can is going down the other cable and hook are raised by the overbalanced weight of the descending can. This empty hook is thus ready for lowering another can as soon as the first can reaches the basement.

I claim:

1. Ash handling apparatus comprising a hoist having a housing, a lowering device having a bracket with an end piece and an overhead arm, bars connecting said end piece to the housing, means for securing the arm to the housing, a reel rot-atably supported between said end piece and said housing and a brake coacting with said reel.

2. A lowering attachment for a power hoist comprising an end plate, two side bars for connecting the sides of the end plate to the housing of the hoist, a drum having a shaft supported between the end plate and the housing, said drum having two spaced sections for keeping the lowering ropes separated and having a brake flange, a brake arm hinged to one of the side bars, a rod connected to the other side bar, and a spring mounted on said rod and pressing said brake arm against said brake flange.

3. An ash can lowering attachment for a hoist comprisin a bracket adapted to be attached to a hoist housing, a reel rotatably carried by said bracket and having two hub sections for winding alternately lowering cables, said reel having a flange, a brake shoe coacting with said flange, a spring normally pressing said shoe against said flange, and two rods connecting said bracket and the hoist housing, said brake shoe being hinged to one rod and said spring being connected to the other rod.

4. A power hoist comprising a housing and a lowering attachment comprising a bracket having an upper arm attached 'to one face of said housing and having an outer arm depending from the upper arm, a supporting shaft mounted in the said outer arm and in the'housing, a reel rotatably carried by said shaft and having a lowering cable for alternately lowering empty buckets and means for frictionally controlling the rotation of said reel and the lowering of the cable.

5. A lowering attachment for a power hoist having a housing and comprising a bracket having an overhead arm and an end plate, two side bars, and a central shaft for connecting the end plate to the housing of the hoist, a reel supported on said shaft for carrying a single cable fortwo buckets, one on each end of the cable, said reel having means for keeping the lowering cable separated and having a brake flange, a brake arm hinged to one of the side bars, a rod connected to the other side bar, and a spring mounted on said rod and pressing said brake arm aga nst said brake flange to control the speed of the reel and attached cable.

6. A lowering attachment for a power ash hoist having a housing comprising a bracket adapted to be secured to the housing of the hoist, a shaft for connecting the bracket to the housing, a side rod for connecting the bracket to the housing, a reel rotatably mounted on said shaft and having a cable wound around the reel for alternately lowering empty buckets, said reel having a brake flange, a brake arm hinged to said side rod and having a handle for manually moving said brake arm, a support connected to said bracket and a spring coacting with said arm and said support for pressing said brake arm against said brake flange.

MAURICE M. BOTNICK. 

